The characteristics of a state can have significant implications for its elderly residents. For one, these characteristics can impact what being retired is like in the state.
A recent report indicates that, last year, things may have gotten a little tougher for retirees here in Michigan. This 2016 Bankrate report ranked the 50 states in six different categories of things that can impact retirees: weather, tax rate, health care quality, community well-being, crime rate and cost of living. The report then used these category rankings to give each state an overall ranking of how good of a place it is for retirees.
The report ranked Michigan the 29th best state in the country to retire in. This was worse than the rank the state was given in Bankrate's report from 2015. In that report, Michigan was ranked 20th.
Why this downgrade in overall ranking? A big contributor appears to be what happened with the community well-being category for the state. The state's ranking in this category deteriorated from 14th all the way down to 39th between the 2015 and 2016 reports.
The state saw a more modest worsening of ranking in the health care quality category, no change in its rankings in the weather and crime rate categories and improvements in its rankings in the tax rate and cost of living categories in the 2016 report.
Do you think Michigan has become a tougher place for retirees? If so, what do you think could reverse this?
In addition to retirement impacts, a state's particular characteristics can have major estate planning implications for elderly individuals. For one, the specifics of a state’s estate planning laws can impact what kinds of estate planning issues can arise for its residents and what its residents need to do to ensure estate planning documents (such as wills) are valid and enforceable. Also, economic conditions and realities in a state could have impacts on estate planning goals. Thus, elderly individuals here in Michigan who are working on estate planning should seek out the assistance of an attorney knowledgeable of the particulars of Michigan estate planning.